Lole y Manuel

Lole Montoya was born in the Triana neighborhood, the most gypsy neighborhood in Seville, as Dolores Montoya Rodríguez on April 26, 1954. She is not only a singer, but also a dancer and composer. For years she formed together with her sentimental partner, guitarist and singer Manuel Molina Jiménez, the duo Lole y Manuel. Manuel Molina was born in Ceuta in 1948 into a gypsy family. Lole’s mother was born in Oran and from that source came her passion for Arabic music, in her house it was constantly listened to and once they settled in Spain it was the Algerian family who sent them the new records. Lole’s family settled in the Triana neighborhood when they arrived in Spain: her parents are Juan Montoya, a dancer, and Antonia Rodríguez “La Negra”, a singer and dancer by profession. Despite knowing how to sing, he also decided from a very young age to learn flamenco dancing, forming part of the flamenco tablaos Las Brujas in Madrid and Los Gallos in Seville, where he came to share the stage with La Perla de Cádiz or Camarón de la Isla.

Manuel took his first guitar lessons from his father, the guitarist from Algeciras known as “El Lacero” (Manuel Molina Acosta “El Lacero”). Very young, he moved to the city of Algeciras where he befriended Paco de Lucía. Later the family moved to the Sevillian neighborhood of Triana, where Manuel formed a trio together with Chiquetete and Manuel Domínguez “El Rubio”, called Los gitanillos del Tardón. In 1968, he joined the group Smash, a Spanish psychedelic rock band located in Seville and considered a pioneer of Andalusian rock. At this stage she achieved great success with the single El garrotín (from the side of San Juan), published in 1971, built on the flamenco style of the same name and with lyrics in Spanish and English.

In 1972 they formed the duo Lole y Manuel with their partner Manuel Molina Jiménez and adopted Lole y Manuel as their stage name. In 1975 they published their first album entitled New Day. That same year they got married and were an artistic and sentimental couple for many years. For many this duo is the forerunner of the musical style known as new flamenco. They made numerous record works for more than two decades, among which Lole and Manuel, Nuevo día, Pasaje del agua, Romero verde, Alba con alegría and Casta stand out. Both in their lyrics and in their public statements, the duo defends gypsy culture, in addition to sharing credits with Raimundo Amador (Pata Negra), Álvaro Jero (Dulce Venganza) or Manolo Marinelli (Alameda). In 1978 she gave birth to his only daughter, Alba Molina, also a singer and from 1993, due to her marital separation, Lole developed her artistic activity independently.

Fundamental artists, they turned traditional flamenco upside down, bringing freshness and new airs to one of the most genuine genres in the entire world. The particular voice of Lole Montoya and the elf of Manuel Molina were able to break ancestral patterns without losing the respect that tradition deserves. The lyrics of the poet José Manuel Flores embellished with pure sensitivity the sound landscapes Between cante and genius of the flamenco gypsies since they were little and before they met they have been in contact with the world of entertainment. She, a dancer in the tablaos of her native Seville; however, he, more precocious and seasoned in other places, was a companion with 12 years of Chiquetete and Manolo Domínguez “El Rubio” in the Los Gitanillos del Tardón trio, or guitarist after the service of the Andalusian rock group Smash. Great appetizers in both cases of what their portentous merged personalities would come to produce.

Lole and Manuel’s professional career was on the rise and their songs were well received. Thus, in 1976 they recorded their second LP which they called ‘Paisaje del agua’, an album with the same musical line as the previous one, where bulerías, tangos and alegrías are not lacking. In it we find other popular songs such as ‘Tu mirá’, a song that years later would be part of the soundtrack of the film ‘Kill Bill’ directed by Quentin Tarantino (2004). Lole and Manuel recorded three more albums: ‘Lole y Manuel’ in 1977, ‘Al alba con alegría’ in 1980 and dedicated to their daughter, the singer Alba Molina; and ‘Casta’ in 1984. Shortly after the recording of the latter, the couple decided to separate professionally and emotionally. However, over time the couple continued to work sporadically. So much so, that in 1992 they collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra on the project ‘Lole and Manuel Cantan a Manuel de Falla’.
Alba Molina, who would follow in the artistic footsteps of her parents, recorded in 2016 an album dedicated to her parents ‘Alba Molina sings to Lole and Manuel’, which the artist herself described as ‘the most flamenco album I will ever make’ . An album full of feeling and emotion that is released a year after the death of Antonio Molina.